BMW E60 M5 / M6 S85 Throttle Actuator & Idle Actuator DIY

[@rulebraking]

Having recently bought a 2007 57k miles M6 most your videos will save me from depleting my meager savings account. I know it must sound repetitive- but the accolades in these comments are well deserved!

[@LSmiata]

Hello E39Source, Just finished throttle actuator and injectors. I rebuilt my throttle actuators, time will tell, but base on 60k/miles of service, happy to spend $200 in gears....from two different manufacturers. Your video very helpful! That stupid nut for rear wiring harness was a disaster....lost 1/4" extensions and had to jack car up to retrieve from transmission tunnel.....GRRR! I used WD40 for intake plenum install and worked great! Hope self drying and not under any pressure so should be good. plenum literally fell into place. Used many 1/4" "wobble" extensions for the throttle body clamps. Went smooth! Again you video was a big help! LS MIata

[@TurdFurgison42]

Thank you for going into so much detail on the E60, no one else is doing it like you!!

[@See.You.Soon.027]

Brother, I cannot thank you enough for this video! This is TOP QUALITY! Love how you explain in detail about every single thing! SUBSCRIBED!!

[@glennwhitener6522]

Your DIYs are real bacon savers and a tremendous resource to help keep these cars going and on the road, thank you for the time and effort to make these. I have been reading as much as possible about doing this job and was very confused about how to handle the wiring harness. I don't know if my build year is different in how the harness was built, but it's like the car in this video: there's no way to fold the harness over for complete access to the V of the engine, short of near-complete removal of all the connections (injectors, and I don't know what else). Seeing that you, also, did not find a way to do that gives me some confidence that I haven't completely missed something. Great stuff, thanks for all you do for this community.

[@E39Source]

Thank you for your kind words Glenn!

[@kevinwhite9937]

I used this as a reference several times. Priceless information in the right hands. Thanks a ton

[@JrIza_914]

I don’t have this car but I love them and love seeing them getting fixed

[@yetias3]

Head and shoulders above the rest! Your detailed and thorough explanations make all the difference. Thanks!

[@jennyl5246]

I’m on day 2 of doing this job on my 07 E64 S85 and so far so good. Only broke 1 plastic clip on my harness. I left the air boxes in, the tank and got away with working around the harness still partially in place. Also the two lines in the back corners of the plenums I just popped off of the plenums because it was easier to do but we’ll see how easy they go back on. The two small lines that go into the back of the plenum you had one plastic 90 angle clip that you replaced. I didn’t see a part link for that in your list. Both of mine are broken and one was actually off of the plenum. Was wondering if you had a part link to share on that? I also had the pleasure of rubber malleting out the idler actuators because they would not budge and thank your for the needle noise plyer tip on getting those small hose lines off because they wouldn’t budge at all. Thank you for the great video very thorough and making this job much much easier doing it solo.

[@E39Source]

Thanks for your comment! The hose clip at the back of the bottom is not sold separately, so you'll need to buy the whole hose. We heated up the hose at the clip so we could remove just the clip. To replace the entire hose, you'd need to remove the exhaust, driveshaft, and transmission to gain access. The hoses are available here: bank 1: tinyurl.com/4tkvhbf2 bank 2: tinyurl.com/2s4fdv7f.

[@jennyl5246]

Thank you for the quick reply and link to those parts. I’m work on that next once they arrive 😊

[@Michael.Saiyan]

!!!! wow!!! thank you for this!! I have an E63 M6, and man you saved me with this video!! Great content!!!

[@angelaracino6236]

You did an excellent job explaining how to remove the idle air actuators very articulate very succinct learned a lot thank you very much I got roped into doing this job for my boss being a Toyota mechanic Toyota designs things very differently than the Germans and this video helped me very much so I have confidence now to go in there and do the job thank you again and may God bless you and your family

[@obg6446]

Excellent video with lots of info, replaced my throttle actuators and now having an idle actuator code

[@SPIDER93657]

Did you figure it out??

[@MBS..]

@@SPIDER93657 did you?

[@jameswaltz8473]

Just started doing mine and you are right. The plenum is a pain in the ass. Took me 3 hrs but i have a bad back. Doing this was a killer

[@MBS..]

Any codes?

[@mista5796]

With regard to the throttle actuators. The root cause of them failing is overloaded circuit boards caused by the motor working harder than it should because the heat of the engine dries out all the pivot points of the linkages that connect the throttle actuators to the butterfly valves on each throttle body. The whole mechanism becomes dry, stiff and squeaky. It’s important to lubricant all the joints thoroughly when you replace the throttle actuators, so the whole mechanism can move freely - otherwise the new actuators will just be working far too hard and they’ll fail prematurely as well. People mistakenly think worn plastic gears are the root of the problem. They aren’t, they’re just a symptom.

[@skydream10]

Ryan been following your work sir when u lived in Ohio and would work on the E39 . fell into love with M cars because of you . i ended up buying the same car 2002 . sold that bought a M6 2010 , M5 2006 to follow . E39 was the best ..cant live with a check engine light .. broke down bought an audi s7

[@E39Source]

Thanks for the kind feedback!! You've had some excellent cars there

[@skydream10]

@@E39Source i got breakdown stories. Every M car should come along your skill set sir. Downtown Manhattan on the fdr with my daughter and her three friends on a Friday evening smg pump went. Went into limp mode and I shut it off sitting at a traffic light. 10 k costed me to fix it and get it home. I have that invoice. Just keepsake. You make it look easy.

[@grantstoltz]

Thanks for the video - super well done! i've got all the symptoms of a throttle actuator failure (limp mode, DSC and flat tire) however i'm throwing CDBD, 0519, 2b2e codes - all reference the idle actuators and not the throttle actuators. any insight as to which i should replace? indy shop said throttle but i would have expected to see a error code indicating as much. thanks again!

[@E39Source]

Both the idle and throttle actuators should be replaced during that service if they're older than ~10 years/65k miles.

[@MTechGuy]

Step 1: Remove the intake plenums= 😩 Great video 👍

[@samuelmaldonado828]

😭

[@obg6446]

M Tech guy, good to see you here and also keep up the cracking work

[@DuaneMoore]

Great detailed video like always . Cheers my friend

[@Sikikler]

Hello Can I replace idle control without removing T bodies?

[@hansbrix2495]

You can’t replace either of the rear PCV hoses without dropping the trans. There are 2 PCVs that those hoses go in to, just like the ones on the valve cover. However that go into the block. You have to do it next time you drop the trans or should have done it when you did the trans swap.

[@artbrookey3468]

You answered one question for me..my local independent BMW shop said if I do the throttle actuators at home, the car will not start, had to be "programmed". I thought I had seen people do it with no trouble on KZbin...

[@E39Source]

Yeah- there is no required coding or pogromming for this job. That's a dealer excuse to bill you another $500.

[@artbrookey3468]

@@E39Source Supposedly, BMW in an update, or something like that, says so....at least that is what the shop told me...

[@artbrookey3468]

Update..I have a 2006 M5. Bank one idle control valve occasionally acts up, so I am replacing both. Since I am going to be in there, why not do the throttle control valves as well. Just got them yesterday, I know a BIG reason for failure is the plastic gears, bad lubrication. So...I took both new ones apart...lo and behold, virtually no lubrication at all on the new ones. I lubed both, all gears will be putting on the car soon. Sad, they are made by VDO, Germany, it's like they deliberately want them to fail....

[@ekhatch5129]

Great video , normally what’s the shop labor time for this?. I think my idle actuators went bad today . Think I’ll just change both idle & throttle since they will have all that apart ..

[@E39Source]

I would probably bill ~8 hours. Doing both while it's open would be a wise investment.

[@dpap]

Great video! I used it to replace my IAs and it was perfect. Thank you. I replaced both IAs and a couple day later I got a code 27AA Oxygen sensor adaptation at limit position before cat. converter Bank 1. Any clue? Did you have any issues like this after you put in your IAs?

[@E39Source]

I don't think the oxygen sensor codes would be related, but I'd try clearing everything out and driving it a bit to see if it returns with the fresh IAs.

[@elvinvalette9928]

Phenomenal explanation. Great work

[@alexbryant5]

Hi what were the symptoms of your idle actuators being bad? I have a random stumble when idling for extended periods. No codes for me.

[@E39Source]

This car would be undriveable with bad idle actuators, no revs above 3,500, and no more than ~50 horsepower to the wheels.

[@ajjohnson7940]

Is there a part number for the hose clamp you replaced on the back of the intake plenum that you mention at 24:36?

[@E39Source]

So that hose actually runs to the back of the engine block above the transmission, and would require transmission removal to remove/replace that end of the hose. The part number for the hoses are 11617838897 (bank I) and 11617838898 (bank II). The connector is not replaceable independently, but you can buy a whole new hose, heat up the plastic around where the fitting presses in, and carefully remove it. Do the same on the broken one on the engine and press it in to place. I used another clamp on there just in case we compromised the plastic too much. Either that, or pull the transmission!

[@Yerevan87]

Is there a way to repair the idle actuators or need to buy new?

[@ante4331]

Why they made it so complicated ffs. You have alot of knowledge,i respect that. Cheers from a mech engineer :)

[@newyorkstreetmachinz4769]

The car is literally an F1 based engine assembly. It was built for the true motorsport enthusiasts who have the pockets to back them up. That engine, as well as most @BMW engines, are required to have internal maintenance performed quite often. It all goes along with the M lifestyle. Just some knowledge........

[@ante4331]

@@newyorkstreetmachinz4769 what cars do you have xd if i may know? Cheers bro

[@ShaLugur]

I wish the best of luck for everyone doing this at home 😂 tedious work😅

[@kejaunking8739]

My accelerator stopped working completely out of the blues any help on how to resolve the issue? Took down my throttle actuators n both were brand new from previous owner

[@E39Source]

You need to start with scanning the vehicle's computer systems to see what codes are stored. This will point you towards the culprit. If you are local to San Diego, please email me at [e-mail] so we can schedule service for you!

[@jeremiahex]

So the lifespan of the actuators are about 60k miles? Give or take. My 2006 E60 has 42,300 miles. So is it safe to say that I still have another 20k miles, give or take, before I do PM on them?

[@E39Source]

I would say the average lifespan is around 60k, but they can go anytime between 40 and 100k

[@jeremiahex]

@@E39Source Thanks. Do you recommend PM? Base on your response, looks like Yes.

[@E39Source]

@@jeremiahex If it were my own car, I'd probably have the parts ready to install when they fail. If you daily drive/depend on the car, do it preventatively.

[@jeremiahex]

@@E39Source Thanks. I don’t daily it. But I’ll get the parts to be ready.

[@TonytheCarEnthusiast]

@@E39SourceIts like once it hit exactly 60,000 miles. My idle actuators failed lol. Its like bmw made them fail at that mileage. Exactly 60,000 miles 😭

[@ronsmith9251]

I prefer dielectric grease instead of lithium grease, just a small amount goes a long way.

[@Ksgarage.]

So I have a question if you don’t mind I hav the 60 w/ 4.8L v8 when I accelerate or mash it to the floor it doesn’t do the whole 360hp I stock vw or even Honda beats me off the launch by a long shot? What could it be? Edit: love the videos so far and I just subscribed!

[@E39Source]

You probably need a refresh of electronics and sensors such as spark plugs, MAF, cam sensors, engine air filters, etc.

[@oaug]

Which side is bank 2

[@E39Source]

Driver side (USA)

[@axispowerdiesel]

Easier than I thought it would be really, wasn't awful

[@Edison73100]

Did you disconnect the battery?

[@E39Source]

It would be a good idea

[@Edison73100]

@@E39Source Thank you

[@leonardlee9841]

How many hours to do it

[@E39Source]

~6-8 hours with the parts in hand.

[@jeancharlesrabaux5658]

Is the twin supercharger haouuuu 340 kilomètres heures en peut de temps

[@jeancharlesrabaux5658]

Haaaà e60 v10 M5 hummm is soo good motors y love the bruit d échappement en ligne inox ce v10 un vraie bruit de formule one idi cars y love the cars

[@Markjw25]

Man, and I thought the S62's 10,000 nuts to remove the plenum was bad. What a royal pain. Of course can't imagine how worse new BMW's are to work on now.

[@E39Source]

This is a more simplistic design, without 10,000 nuts, but its definitely more of a hassle. I'd rather zip the nuts off with a gun than fight these hose clamps any day!

[@erniearambula3525]

The E60 M5 is the Greatest BMW that never was, if only BMW built reliability into the E60.